App shows you how to find items at Hy-Vee.

An Iowa-based grocery store chain is launching a mobile application for smart phone users so they can be smarter shoppers.

Most of us have been at the supermarket and discovered there’s a product on our list that we can’t seem to find in the store, but they must have it, right?

Hy-Vee’s Ruth Comer says the new app features a product locater function. Comer says, “If you’re shopping and you want to know where to find the toothpicks or the cake mixes, you can either speak the product into your phone or you can type it and the app will come back and tell you it’s in aisle 6 on the left side or aisle 14 on the right side, so you can go right to that section and find that product.”

Comer says, “The majority of our stores now are mapped to coincide with the app and it will pull up a map of the store and show you, right on the map, where the product’s located.”

If you arrive at that aisle and find the shelf empty, never fear.

“You can send a Tweet to Hy-Vee and let them know if a product’s out of stock,” she says. “They’ll get that message right away and can look to see if there’s more in stock.”

You can also browse the weekly ads, search for recipes and build an online shopping list. The app is free. Find it at “www.hy-vee.com”